


Something Strange

by reeby10



Series: Marvel Shipping Games 2014 [6]
Category: Marvel, Marvel (Movies), X-Men (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe- Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Developing Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 01:05:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2291300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was probably going mad, cooped up in this huge house with no one for company but the beast and his strange talking servants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Strange

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://marvelshippinggames.dreamwidth.org/1551.html?thread=117007#cmt117007) for the [Marvel Shipping Games](http://marvelshippinggames.dreamwidth.org/) Bonus Round 1.

Erik stared at the beast whose manor he’d been trapped in for the last several weeks. It was so strange, sometimes it seemed like the outline of the beast seemed to flicker, especially when they were deep in a game of chess. Sometimes it even seemed like he could see a sad, brown haired man inside the form of the great beast.

Shaking his head, Erik returned to contemplating his next move. Such thoughts were ridiculous. He was probably going mad, cooped up in this huge house with no one for company but the beast and his strange talking servants. That in itself was probably a hallucination. Perhaps he’d gone mad from the moment he stepped through the doors and agreed to stay in his mother’s place.

Across from him, the beast moved his knight, then smirked. “I believe that is checkmate, my friend,” it growled, sounding far more smug than it had any right to be.

Erik stared down at the board, narrowing his eyes in contemplation before he gave a short laugh. “So it seems,” he conceded. “You always seem to know my moves before I even make them.”

The beast flinched as his words, then grumbled something about having other things to do and practically fled the room. Erik frowned, surprised at the reaction and by how the beast’s form had flickered even more than earlier. Something strange was happening, he just didn’t know what.

“Forgive Ch- I mean, the beast,” said Raven the teapot, hopping up beside him. “He’s having a hard time.”

Erik snorted. “What could possibly be giving him a hard time?” he demanded, a little bitterly. “It’s not as if there is much to his life except what is within the walls of this manor.”

The other servants had gathered as well, Hank the teacup and Alex the mantle clock and Darwin the candlestick holder and all the others. They began chattering at him as one, making it impossible to understand anything anyone was saying.

“Stop!” he cried.

They silenced immediately, and Erik heard Raven sigh. “He has not always been this way,” she said sadly. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you any more. Just… go to him?”

Erik frowned, not sure what he was supposed to do about any of it, but finally nodded and left the library. He started his search with the garden, where the beast spent most of his time not in the library, but it was empty, as were the kitchens, dining room, and every room in between.

At a loss, Erik wondered where else the beast could have gone and if it would be better to go back and ask the servants if they knew. He’d searched everywhere. _Well, not exactly everywhere_ , he thought after a few moments.

There was one place in the manor that Erik had never gone, one place he was _forbidden_ to enter. He wasn’t sure exactly what the room was, but the servants had warned him since his arrival that the beast would be very angry if he went there. But it looked like now he had no other choice if he was to find the beast.

“Beast, are you in here?” he called as he pushed the surprisingly unlocked door open.

Inside it was dark and it took him several moments to realize that the beast was kneeling in the center of the room, flickering worse than ever, so much so that he could see that the brown haired man was crying. Beside him was a waist high pedestal with a curious metal dome on top. It didn’t seem malevolent, but Erik couldn’t help but think that it was the source of all the problems with the beast.

Cautiously, he walked forward until he was only a foot away from the beast. “Are you alright?” he asked, tensing to run for safety if he needed to.

“No,” came the faint voice of the beast, caught between its usual growl and the light baritone of a human man. Slowly, the beast turned its face to look at Erik, fear in its- his- eyes. “I’m dying, it’s killing me.”

Erik felt a sudden surge of anger at the words, so powerful he didn’t know what to do. All he knew is that he didn’t want to the beast to die. There had to be something he could do, if only he knew what the beast-man was talking about.

Out of the corner of his eye, Erik caught a glance at the metal dome and he suddenly knew what to do. Throwing an arm out, he mimicked crushing something with his hand, all of his energy concentrated on destroying the metal dome. With a sickening crunch and shriek of metal, the dome collapsed in on itself.

Exhausted, Erik collapsed next to the beast who wasn’t a beast anymore. Instead, he was the brown haired man he’d seen in the flickers, looking just as exhausted. “You alright now?” he asked.

The brown haired man smiled at him and Erik felt his heart constrict just a little. “Yes, thank you,” the man said. “My name is Charles.”

Erik was opening his mouth to respond when the door suddenly flew open, the servants piling in. But they were not as they were either, they were now humans as well, but younger than Charles by several years.

“It’s over?” the girl at the head of the group asked, eyes hopeful.

Charles nodded his head. “It is, thanks to our guest,” he said, turning to smile even more widely at Erik. “I think proper introductions and an explanation would be appropriate now.”

Erik agreed wholeheartedly.

**Author's Note:**

> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, come chat with me [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/) or maybe [buy me a coffee](http://ko-fi.com/A7274PC).


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